Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

Holmes was appointed tothe Supreme Court of the United States in 1902 and served for 30 years, retiring at 91, the oldest justice ever to serve on the Court. Known as the 'Great Dissenter', Holmes penned some of the most eloquent opinions in the history of the Court. No other judge in American history remotely approaches Holmes in the scope or duration of interest in his life and career. White's full biography of Holmes has considerable research apparatus, technical discussions of Holmes's legal scholarship and judicial opinions, and a thematic organization that make it less accessible to a popular audience. Oliver Wendell Holmes has a more chronologically oriented, accessible narrative, and presupposes that its readers do not have legal training.